By William Madouk
South Sudan government has denied alleged deployment of Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) in Juba.
Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) of Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba shocked the world after twitting on his X account on Tuesday, that UPDF Special Forces had arrived in Juba.
The Ugandan military chief ‘s social media speculation was also corroborated by his spokesperson, Gen. Felix Kulayigye who confirmed the development.
However, South Sudan’s Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, Amb. Apuk Ayuel Mayen denied any knowledge of UPDF deployment in the country.
“I’m not aware of this,” Ambassador Ayuel commented while responding to our reporter, when contacted.
Despite promising to find details of the matter, Amb. Apuk preferred that our reporter contacts military leadership for facts on the matter.
“I’ll look into it, and maybe you can speak with SSPDF about it. No comment on this at this time,” Ms. Ayuel stated.
Meanwhile, multiple attempts to reach SSPDF spokesperson, Maj-Gen Lul Ruai for clarification proved futile, as several calls and text messages, on his know contact were not answered by press time.
As speculations spiral, Civil society organizations call on government to provide accurate information to the public with about the purported presence of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) in the country.
In a statement, Executive director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) urged the government to clear the confusion.
“There is a need to explain this particular development, there is no need to maintain any silence,” he said.
He added that government silence over this issue allows people who like hate speech, hostile propaganda, and misinformation an opportunity.
“So, I would like to urge the official spokesperson of the government and the spokesperson of our army to provide an explanation of whether this information that is going on in formal Media platforms and social media platforms is true or not,” he said.
“Silence over that put the lives of some people at risk, being South Sudanese or being our fellow East African citizens from Uganda, Ethiopia from Kenya,” Yakani added.
The alleged deployment of the Ugandan forces comes after recent tension in Juba and other parts of the country.
Last week, the deputy chief of the army and two ministers – all allies of Machar – were arrested by the security forces, which an opposition spokesman called a “grave violation” of the peace deal.
However, the minister of peacebuilding was released the following day by the security operatives and 8 others were set free this week.
The arrests followed clashes between government forces and a militia known as the White Army in Upper Nile state.